All Forum Posts by: Jason Noah Choi

I have begun making offers on some potential owner-occupied multi-families. Since all of the prices vary, I've realized how inefficient it is to have to go back to my lender and ask him, "hey, can you give me another pre-approval letter for x dollars?" for each offer I'm making. Am I missing something here? 

What are some optimal ways to make this offer process with bank financing much quicker? 

Such great information in this thread. Please keep it going. Lots of advice on doing research. Any tips for it? I check out rentals in the neighborhood listed on CL or hotpads. Check out demos on city-data and school quality. I'm also assuming comps, I assume the best way to get this is via a boots on the ground agent? Unemployment rate, largest employer nearby, and whether it's a public trans or car area. Anything else I am missing?

What a fun and informative event. Amazing to do a live case study with so much Q&A. Thanks @Darren Sager for hosting and many thanks to @Liz Faircloth and Matt for sharing so much insight. 

I'm going through the same thing in Jersey City for an owner occupied duplex using FHA loan. Numbers definitely don't work even if I were to potentially refinance out of it after a year. While it's still cheaper than renting somewhere in NY, I'm not sure it's the best way to start out in REI.

@Venise Brooks I'm doing the same thing right now. I'll PM you a mortgage broker I've been working with who has been a great pleasure to work with. 

I'm in a similar situation. I have student loans still (went to a very expensive private school for college) but also have some capital to invest in real estate. My interest rate is pretty low for my student loans. I've done the avalanche method to pay off some student loans because overall it's just good for your mental psyche to get rid of the baggage of the student loans.

Currently, I'm saving up for a down payment while also paying a bit extra on each student loan. Just like with rental properties, you just have to run the numbers and figure out how much money extra you're paying over the years. There are so many loan calculators online and also, you should probably have a 1098-E showing you a ballpark of how much interest you're probably going to pay this year if you want to just estimate it.

Finally, another benefit of maintaining a loan that no one really talks about. It actually helps your credit score because each month you pay your loan, it increases the average age of your credit history. I'd gladly pay a few extra bucks a month in interest to keep my credit score steadily increasing. 

How would it work to buy out an LLC to take on a property? Is this similar, in fact, to a seller financing or paying all cash? I get that I would be buying out the shares for the individual who holds all the shares within the established LLC, and it seems there will be no closing costs. I'd love to hear anyone's thoughts on benefits and drawbacks to taking on property this way.

 Love this advice Thomas S. Keeps the return on equity percentage at a good rate.

Hey there,

Thought I'd put out some feelers. I'm looking to purchase a property soon and am already preapproved. I'm currently looking at getting additional preapprovals from other lenders right now. 

I'm primarily looking for 2-4 unit multi-families at Jersey City, NJ, Union City, NJ, and Cypress Hill, Brooklyn, NY. I will be owner occupying one unit (and renting out bedrooms if there are any additional). Anyone with great expertise in these parts? As anyone can attest to here on BP, looking for good deals and it definitely needs to make sense financially. Please feel free to reach out to me if you think we can be a good team together.